Rea Nikonova (born Anna Tarshis) is among the most restlessly experimental of the poets who reconstituted the Russian avant-garde during the 1960s, continuing the traditions of Russian Futurism and Zaum. From 1979 to 1987, she was editor (with her husband, the poet Serge Segay) of Transponance, a renowned Russian underground hand-made journal, covers of which can be viewed at The Sackner Archives. A collection of her graphics is available from Xexoxial Editions. You can view three samples of her Mail Art here and hear one of her Zaum sound poems here.

Jim Leftwich lives in Roanoke, VA. He is involved in organizing mail art, visual poetry, sound poetry, sound art and Fluxus events and exhibits for the annual Roanoke marginal arts festival and the bi-weekly collab fests. He is the author of Dirt, Doubt, Death Text, Sample Example, The Textasifsuch, Myesis, Pulsing Swarms & Squiggly Diagonals, Readings, Fragments Hint, Writ By Association, The Canard, Shrimp Teeth, Trashpo, Improvisations/Transformations, Short Sorties, SO FOR BY, Gathering The Clock, and Art Bang. Collaborative works include Sound Dirt, with John M. Bennett, Acts, with John Crouse, Telephone Poles, with Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, iTopia, with Scott MacLeod, Fictions Deleted, with Steve Dalachinsky, and Shadowed Truth, with Andrew Topel. From 1994 – 2005 he was an editor of the print magazines Juxta and Xtant. Since 2005 he has edited/compiled the blog zine Textimagepoem. His mail art, visual poetry, collab fests and marginal arts festivals are digitally archived and downloadable pdfs edited by Leftwich and Jukka-Pekka Kervinen are at vugg books. His work is archived in the rare books and manuscripts collection of Ohio State University.